


XVIII - The Moon

by Al_99



Series: Labyrinth [1]
Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Canon-Typical Violence, Concussions, Crime Family, Fainting, Pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:47:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22617382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Al_99/pseuds/Al_99
Summary: My head hits the wall hard.I’m seeing starts but I feel the body of the Bad-Guy-On-Duty on me, I kick instinctively in front of me and he falls to the floor. I can barely register what just happened. I know I should tell the team, this building was supposed to be empty- “Shit!” The guy is getting up and ready to go again, I’m feeling dizzy as I brace for the fight.
Relationships: Peter Nureyev & Juno Steel, Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel
Series: Labyrinth [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1647028
Comments: 4
Kudos: 100





	XVIII - The Moon

**Author's Note:**

> Juno gets a concussion while in a mission. This is more like a study of how to write a concussion, and how Juno deals with it.

My head hits the wall _hard_.

I’m seeing starts but I feel the body of the Bad-Guy-On-Duty on me, I kick instinctively in front of me and he falls to the floor. How could he push me so hard? I can barely register what just happened. I know I should tell the team, this building was supposed to be empty- where’s my comms? I take a deep breath and concentrate trying to focus to see through the spots. I see the comms on the floor in two pieces next to a blaster. “Shit!” The guy is getting up and ready to go again, I’m feeling dizzy as I brace for the fight.

It was a fairly easy target on my side. Just slip through security and break the records that couldn’t be hacked – _who keeps records offline?! It’s not like this is The seasons of Summer where the spy had to save Annie who was actually Summer in disguise_ – while Nureyev and Jet did the actual stealing. _A quick hit and retreat_ , as Buddy said, we’d be in and out before anyone noticed the moonstone was missing. Except there is this random dude in here, not in uniform so he’s not security, trying to knock me out.

I step forward and find it difficult to keep my balance, especially as I take a blow to the chin. I kick the guy in return and when he doubles in pain, I knock his head against the wall as hard as I can. It’s a good technique. I hold the wall- or the wall holds me, more likely, and look over. The Bad Guy is now Off Duty so now I can finally move on to the ‘retreat’ part of the plan, which is the part I was mostly looking forward to in the first place.

My arm stings so much it feels like it’s on ice, I don’t remember what happened to it, and I feel like my soul is three inches to the left of my body when I start to walk. Hearing a string of crackling and popping sounds, I stumble to the pieces that were my comms and try to assemble them. They don’t even fit together anymore, like they were never meant to fit together. It does a series of noises that could be interpreted as a rabbit’s attempt to copy a human voice. Rita will be so mad. Still the thing is trying to work and failing. _Just like me_ \- I put the pieces and the dude’s blaster inside my pocket, I think he shot at me before, and get up- too fast. The burrito I ate for dinner around four hours ago is threatening to get out through my mouth.

I place my hand to the wall and walk, I’m pretty sure I’ll remember my way back even if my eye is faltering me. _This would be easier with two eyes_ , I think to myself, _but I had to go and make it blow up-_ I’m at a corner… uhm… right, to the right. I’m not that far-

“Juno get down!” I barely process that before something, someone, knocks me down to the floor. The body on top of me quickly leaves and I hear some blaster shots, hits and grunts. I collaborate by not throwing up on myself and getting to what could be considered a standing position. “Dammit, something alerted the guards!” Right, I was trying to find the way out.

“It wasn’t us, I had everything under control!” Rita’s voice comes through statically from my left as my comms makes another series of pops.

“We know that Rita, it is most likely that it has been because of the intruder you were talking about.” Jet answers.

“Juno. Are you okay?” his voice comes from in front of me and I see his feet a second after. “You should check corners before you turn them.” Nureyev- ah, no, Ransom is standing in front of me, hands to his hips and covered in sweat. I swallow. _No shit._ “What’s with your comms?”

It takes me a second to make my mouth _do_ words “Broken.” I take a deep breath and push the blackness down as much as I can. “What happened?” Ransom is already walking; he’s guessing I’m going to follow at his pace.

“I got Juno, his comms’ broke.” He turns back to me as he ignores the voices that answer through the comms “Some _amateur_ made an attempt to rob this facility and _failed._ ” he says it with such distaste and class.

Dammit, I fucked up again. “I’m sorry- I didn’t think-” He quickly sticks to the wall and gestures for me to copy. With the quick movement the black spots come back.

He checks and relaxes immediately, nothing there but he’s still alert. He looks at me. “Oh, no, not you, Juno. Some petty thief- we don’t know yet.” I see our makeshift entry just a couple of meters away, a perfect circle in one of the walls of the building. “We’re here.” He says to the comms.

“Pick up coming _riiiight_ up!” Rita’s voice lingers in my ears; her voice like a kaleidoscope-

“Nureyev” its barely a breath- I grab Nureyev’s shirt instead of his shoulder, but my vision is already black and my body falls limp.

“Juno?!” I hear his voice far away. I feel his hand hit my face softly. “Juno, are you with me?” I try to stay conscious, the pain in my arm grounds me but- “ _Dammit_. Juno!” I can’t keep- His voice is restrained when he talks next “Juno’s fainted, I don’t know what’s happening. We’re coming up.” I feel his arms behind my neck and legs as he pulls me up and then nothing.

I keep dozing in and out as Nureyev carries me. His arms around me as he props me against a wall like a doll, my chest on his back and the wind hitting my face as we leave on a bike. Then, traffic lights on wet asphalt and his cologne. He keeps talking to me or maybe he’s talking to the team? I’m not sure. His pulse is fast against me I try to do my best to reassure him how I can. Words are nothing for me right now, so I tighten my grip on him for a moment. He seems to understand, and I lay my forehead on his nape and doze off again.

It’s nice being unconscious for a while. When you don’t feel the pain or anything at all, not even thoughts or dreams to be bothering you, like falling into emptiness and feeling at peace with it.

And then, the nice part is over and it’s like your head is a pressure cooker and your brain is the overcooked rice.

It’s even less nice when Vespa bandages my arm carelessly and it hurts from my fingers to my back. I groan in response and push her arm away.

“You’re awake.” I’d say _fuck you_ but instead I barely have time before I puke into the designated Puke Bin next to the bed. She makes a frustrated noise. _At least I got it right this time_ I think to myself. She takes it away from me to empty it. “Did you hit your head?”

“ _Ugh_.” I feel a bump growing where my skull met the wall.

“It’s bad to get a lot of concussions, you know?”

“Oh, I know, I had an eventful childhood.” I mumble, my words are slurry.

Instead of an answer we get a high-pitched squeak “ _Mistah Steel!!!_ You’re okay!” Rita runs to me and hugs me. “I knew you’d be alright; I didn’t worry myself too much or nothin’ when Mistah Ransom said you fainted. You were almost here anyways, and I thought I didn’t have to worry too much because Miss Vespa would take care of you and you said you don’t like it when I worry and it’s not like you haven’t fainted before-”

“Yeah, I’m okay Rita.” I put my hand on her fluffy hair and feel her relief. She hugs me again and I spot Nureyev at the door frame, still all sweaty, with a towel on his shoulders and a soft look on his face I can’t quite place, it gives off a sense belonging I keep dreaming on him. _And that’s all it is_ , I tell myself, _a dream_. He’s probably just tired, anyways. Rita is talking about one of her streams she considers to be parallel to what happened today. The world tilts in a moment and I realize I was the one falling when Vespa pulls me up again.

“You should be resting, but first:Where are you?” I take a moment to brace myself for the same trillion questions she’s gonna ask and the trillion tests she’s gonna make and I notice uh- Ransom has gotten closer and won’t look away. I answer to the best of my knowledge but keep looking his way now and then, if Vespa or Rita notice they don’t say a thing. At some point Buddy has also joined the party and is listening intently.

“So, what happened with the other thief?” I try to remember.

“I was about to close the room… and then-” I do my best to concentrate, looking at the metallic floor as if it had the answer. This has happened before, many times before. I would know mother had hit me, but I couldn’t remember how or why she had. And I’d just have the pain and Ben as proof and the piling cans of alcohol by the trash the next morning, _I’m so sorry I hit you little monster, I was just so tired of-_. Everyone is looking at me. I sigh. “I don’t know, he pushed my head into the wall, I think, and then I knocked him out.”

“Do you think you left any traces?” Buddy chimes in “Any DNA or prints?”

“Uh, I don’t think so?” She nods and pats my shoulder; I wince slightly, she looks at me apologetically.

“Then I believe Rita and I have some cleaning to do. We will leave Venus tomorrow at noon. Vespa, remember that you’re on restocking duty with Jet.” She makes a dismissive gesture and Buddy sighs. “We did a good job, team, let’s try not to get any injuries next time.” I nod and she leaves with Rita. _I fucked up again, I’m a burden._

Vespa turns around and looks for something in one of the cabinets full of small bottles and boxes. Definitely the room is spinning less than before but I’m exhausted. Nureyev- I mean Ransom, looks like he’s about to say something to me.

“By the way, do you mind staying with him tonight? Juno should be woken up regularly, so we make sure nothing’s wrong with him.” Nureyev looks taken aback for a second and then disguises it, as if it was never there.

“Of course, I guess I’ll stay here for the night, then.” I can’t decipher his face, _it’s more Ransom than Nureyev,_ I think to myself.

“You should at least ask what a lady _wants_.” Vespa grunts at that. She gets up to leave the room.

“Steel, this is the third time you have a concussion and I want to get some sleep tonight so fuck off.” I raise my hands in surrender and the door closes behind her. _I’m a burden._

***

It’s about three in the morning when Nureyev wakes me up again, each time we talk for some minutes and go back to sleep, he looks tired. He hands me a glass of water.

“She’s right, you know?” he sits on the chair next to the bed.

“Sorry, what?”

“What Vespa said. You get hurt too often.” Nureyev says it so matter-off-factly. It hurts. I sit on the bed, lean my head on the wall and close my eye.

“I _get it_ , I’m a liability, I’ll do better next time.” It sounds as harsh as I feel it. I don’t want to look at him, his disappointment. I have enough with myself, honestly, I didn’t need a reminder just now. A small noise comes from where he sits but I don’t know what it is.

“Juno” he whispers my name then I feel the bed sink under his weight as he sits on the far corner. He stays still for a moment “I get that you think that, but absolutely not.” I raise my eyebrow and look at him. “I… _We_ just don’t want you to get hurt, dear.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I respond dismissively, I know he’s just saying it to make me feel better.

“I mean it. I know it’s been hard, maybe for longer than I know, but… you don’t have to put yourself in danger unnecessarily, Juno.”

“I didn’t mean to get a concussion!” I say louder than I meant. I see him restrain from flinching back, but he speaks softly.

“I know, I just meant …” I lay my head back again. “Juno, if you ever need anything... please know I’m there.” He takes the water from me and I just look at him as he gets ready to sleep on the spare bed in the infirmary “And, you’re not a burden, Juno, never.” He turns off the lights, I want to argue that he’s wrong, that he shouldn’t care about me but it’s been a long day, a long night, and my eyelids are heavy.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this fic, it's a first draft but i really appreciate any tips or mistakes you found :D


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